By Sharon Creech
Published by Scholastic Inc.
Copyright September 2001
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Report by Allison Radin
Sharon
Creech
Author Study- Sharon Creech
By Allison Radin
Have you ever wondered what it is like to be Sharon Creech? Well, I’m here to
tell you all about what it’s like to be Sharon Creech, a popular children’s author.
Creech was born on July 29, 1945 in South Euclid, Ohio, a suburb of
Cleveland. Her parents, Ann and Arvel, had five kids including Sharon. It was
a zoo! If you want an inside look on her life in the Creech family, she says you
should just read her book Absolutely Normal Chaos. For siblings she had one
sister, Sandy, and three brothers, Dennis, Doug, and Tom. When she was
young they often went on summer road trips to Wisconsin, Michigan, and once,
Idaho. Going to Idaho turned into Walk Two Moons. They also went to
Kentucky to see her cousins quite a bit. This turned into “Bybanks, Kentucky”,
a smallish town, which pops up in several of her books. Sharon Creech is an
extremely smart woman; she has a B. A. from Hiram College and an M.A. from
George Mason University.
Today, Sharon Creech is married to Lyle Rigg. She has 2 grown children, Rob
and Karin. Currently she lives in upstate New York. She loves writing but likes
being with family even more. Surprisingly when Sharon was a child she wanted
to be anything but a writer. In college she found she had a passion for writing.
Before she became a writer she taught English at a college. Now she has
written more than 12 books and several picture books. She normally likes
writing Realistic Fiction or Fiction. Some of her award winning books include
Ruby Holler, 2002 Carnegie Award, Love That Dog with Claudia Louis Poetry
Award and a Christopher Award, The Wanderer, 2001 Newbery Honor, and
Walk Two Moons 1995 Newbery Medal.
Website Address: www.sharoncreech.com
Interest Level : Mature 4th graders to 6th
graders.
Reading Level: 8-12 year olds
Theme:
The main theme of the book The Wanderer is the
journey the characters take both physically and mentally.
As they sail to England to see their Bompie, or
grandfather, everyone on board changes in the way they
think of their family in this thrilling adventure book. The
reader journeys into their minds as you read their “doglogs”, or journals that two characters keep during the
journey.
Overview:
Sophie is sailing to England to meet Bompie. She has begged to take a place as a crew
member on the ship The Wanderer with her two cousins, Brian and Cody, and her three
uncles, Mo, Stew, and Dock. But when a colossal wave hits, it changes everything. Even
before the wave came, Sophie was having nightmares. Now, everything is broken,
Sophie included. She can’t seem to find all of herself. She is still struggling in the power
of the wave. At night she dreams of the traumatic past, when she was orphaned at a
young age. She is adopted and feels happy, not wishing to remember the grisly past.
When she finally figures out her past, she suddenly grows older and more mature.
Finally she is free, at peace with her past.
Problem and Solution:
Sophie is dealing with a scary past and Cody with a harsh father who thinks Cody is “a
knuckle-headed doofus”. Brian pesters Sophie with awkward questions about how she
came to the family and how Sophie supposedly knows Bompie, whom she never met.
Uncle Mo has been spotted crying. Uncle Dock has been known to be talking with
someone and break off when Sophie and Cody come in the room. Sophie overhears that
Uncle Stew has been fired. Could there be other reasons for this trip? Then to top it all a
huge wave comes, wrecking the ship and drawing family closer. Suddenly in Bompie’s
house in England everything gets untangled from one small story.
Setting and Point of View:
The action takes place in three main settings. In the beginning the characters are at the
harbor in Connecticut where the crew needs to prepare The Wanderer. Then they are on
the sea, landing where Sophie and Cody land. At the end they are at Bompie’s house in
England. It ends in Kentucky where Sophie lives. The reader takes the journey through
Sophie and Cody’s “dog-logs”, or journals, where the reader sees two sides of the story.
• Uncle Stew, Brian’s father, is fussy about
Characters:
• Sophie,13, is a quiet, thoughtful girl. Tucked
•
•
in her are happy memories from the times
with her birth parents. She doesn’t
consciously remember what happened that
left her orphaned but struggles at night
with nightmares about a huge wave. Now
adopted, her past is still a tangle.
Cody,13, Sophie’s cousin, and Mo’s son, is
fun-loving and likes juggling. He is a bit
goofy. His father doesn’t feel proud of him,
so he wonders if he and his father are
related. He also likes animals. He likes
sailing but his family isn’t sure what to do
with him.
Brian, also Sophie’s cousin, is a miniature of
his father Uncle Stew. He is fussy, orderly, a
born leader, and obsessed with making lists.
He holds a place as one of the bossiest
people Cody knows. He feels that Sophie
doesn’t belong in the family.
•
•
•
being organized. He worries about every
little thing; this is why he is called ‘Stew’.
He never seems to be in the picture much.
He wants everything to be picture-perfect,
so he is annoyed when people don’t do
things the way he wants them to.
Uncle Mo, Cody’s father, thinks Cody isn’t
anything to be proud of. He doesn’t
especially like being in the thick of things.
He blusters quite a bit, but underneath he
has feelings. He is a little lazy; he didn’t
really help cleaning up the boat before they
set sail, instead, he sat around criticizing.
He really wants to be an artist.
Uncle Dock is a little reserved. He keeps
ordering stops along the coast before they
head off to England. Uncle Dock is the
peace-keeper. He steps in and cools things
down when Stew and Mo fight. Often he
talks in private, not wishing anyone to hear
what the conversation is about. The reader
begins to wonder, is there a different reason
for the trip?
Bompie is, Sophie, Cody, and Brian’s
grandfather, he was born in England but
grew up in the United States. Bompie
moved back to England and now Mo, Dock,
and Stew, his sons, are sailing to see him.
Bompie has many stories from his childhood
that Sophie knows, but they’ve never met!
The stories all seem to end with a whipping
and then a pie slice.
Discussion Questions:
Pages 1-19
How did Sophie feel when Brian said she should clean?
Why do you think Brian said this?
Why does Sophie feel this way?
Pages 23-51
Why is Sophie so touchy about the ‘orphaned’ bird?
Do you think Brian was smart to ask which parents Sophie was talking about? Why?
Pages 52-62
What would you say about the dolphins if you were in Sophie’s place?
Pages 65-110
Do you think you would have fun on the Island?
What do you think Uncle Mo was crying about?
Pages 113-177
Would you have fun in the bosun chair like Sophie?
Try talking in radio code. Can you say your name?
Pages 181-229
Why do you think Sophie is annoyed at always being at the helm?
Why do you think The Wave is causing Sophie so much grief?
What is a VHF radio?
Pages 230-241
How do you think the little kid feels about being left behind?
Why do you think Cody and Sophie both thought “Giddy-up, Giddy-up” when they were in The Wave?
Pages 245-273
What do you think Brian meant when he said “now that is the question of the century.”
Why do you think Brian thinks Sophie is lying about knowing Bompie?
Pages 274-305
Why do you think Sophie thought that her own story was Bompie’s?
What does Sophie mean by saying maybe she doesn’t want to know all of what was on the ocean floor?
If you liked this book, you’ll love…
• If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period by Gennifer
Choldenko
• Absolutely Normal Chaos by Sharon
Creech
• Castle Corona by Sharon Creech
• Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
• The Star of Kazan by Eva Ibbotson
• Kimchi and Calamari by Rose Kent